Friday, February 27, 2015

sun salutation

Back
before we bought the country house, before we moved out here 4 years
later, I belonged to a gym and went and worked out and did cardio for
two hours mostly three times a week plus an hour and a half of yoga
once a week. I loved the way I felt, the way I looked, no jiggly
bits and the strength but it was a big time commitment out of my
week. Moving out here I only had one gym available and it was
attached to the Junior College with restricted hours of use. Plus
having to travel back and forth to work even after another gym opened
just made it too hard to establish a routine.

Fast
forward, four years later, to now. I miss my firm strong body but
I'm not likely to start going to the gym again. I guess I'm over
that whole body building culture. I do have a pair of 10 pound
weights that sit on the shelf totally ignored. Same problem,
developing a routine. I'm really bad about developing a routine at
home. Same with yoga.

But.
I read something on FB towards the end of January about New Year's
resolutions which I don't really make. I did make them for a few
years running and my most successful one was to spend my change,
especially my pennies. I still do that even if it does take maybe a
whole extra minute for me to pay, much to the impatience of the
people waiting in line behind me. Actually, I don't really do that
much anymore since I started emptying my pockets every night and
putting my change in a jar for the grandkids to divvy up. But, I
digress.

What
I read was about resolutions and difficulties keeping them because
they are usually just too ambitious (with regard to exercising) and
the article suggested doing just 5 sun salutations (surya namaskar) a
day. Sun Salutation A is a series of 12 yoga postures done in a
single graceful flow, and it warms you up, stretches just about every
part of your body and builds strength and flexibility. Sun
Salutation B is a little different, a little more strenuous.

So,
I'm thinking...5 sun salutations a day? I can do that. Pffff. I
can do it. It's the will do it part I have trouble with. But come
February, I decided to try and do it, every morning after I get up
and before coffee. I do 2 rounds of A, one round of B, and 2 rounds
of A. Well, I haven't been quite successful, I'm kinda hit and miss,
have probably done it less than half the days but I'm getting more
frequent. Sometimes I even add in some other poses before I head for
the coffee pot.

You
can see Sun Salutation A here (though the one I do is slightly
different, like the image above, but I couldn't find a video of it that didn't have a long
lead-in).

10 comments:

i have always wanted to take some yoga classes to learn the basics. i'm not good with videos or reading or things like that. and i'll never go to a gym, again as i'm a homebody. but i walk/run or do an indoor glider machine almost every day while i watch tv. :)

I know what you mean about the routine thing, but your body does have memory of when you did it before, and yearns for a return - so you're more than half way there. I find my arms get worked well, with work, but everything else needs attention!

I went to a yoga class once - like Hilary, I felt totally out of place. But I know that flexibility is EXTRA important as we get older. Maybe I'll try to at least do some stretching on the days I work from home (there's no room in my AM routine for anything extra on the days I go into the office).

I give you a lot of credit for keeping up with this. I love the idea of an early morning routine...but morning and I are not friends. I have gotten back on the treadmill and keep reminding myself how much better I feel if I keep moving.